by Richard Dee
We arrived at the office, Griff and Rixon embraced the same way the Rixon and Melva had, without embarrassment, like long lost family. “Thanks for saving me,” Griff said. I noticed that Ria was absent, was she keeping out of the way?
Rixon shrugged. “I couldn’t save everyone,” he said. “I knew there was another bad apple and I was pretty sure that it wasn’t you.”
So Rixon had known that the original Dave Travise had an accomplice, but did he know who it was?
“I’ve thought about it a lot, it had to be Tan,” Griff said. “She and Dave pretended not to know each other, in fact they were quite antagonistic, I only found out much later, after the Orca went, that they had been together before they joined the crew.”
“But I thought that Tan was…” I started.
“She was a bit of both, Dave,” Rixon added. “After I knocked Dave and Myra back; when I first had my suspicions, that was when she latched onto Mitch. At first it was just sisterly support, it soon became something else. And I suspect it was to throw me off the scent; to try another way to keep passing information.”
Ria came into the room, took in the scene and went pale. There was silence as she walked straight up to Rixon. “You bastard,” she said. “You killed my friend.” She slapped him around the face. He made no effort to defend himself as she slapped him again, Griff pulled her away. He held her while she sobbed.
“She’s wrong,” said Irin. “He didn’t kill her; if anyone did it was me.”
Ria looked at her. “How can it be your fault?” she asked between sobs.
“If I hadn’t defected, then Rixon wouldn’t have come after my family.”
“And you told me that he would have killed you if you’d have gone back,” I added.
“Yes,” she said, “but I knew that before I asked you to protect me, I knew what would happen when you rescued me. If I hadn’t stayed with you then my family and your friend would have lived.”
“That’s crazy,” Ria shouted. “You’ve been brainwashed to see things the wrong way around. He,” she pointed a trembling finger at Rixon, “has manipulated you. He’s made you believe that you’re to blame for his behaviour.”
“Or was it my fault in some way?” As I said it, I wondered if Ria would now turn her ire on me.
At last Rixon spoke. “Look,” he said, “all of us should accept that there were a lot of things that should have been done differently.”
Ria was about to say more, he waved his hand at her. “OK, I accept that your friend died and you hold me responsible, and in a way I am. But I had a way of enforcing discipline, everyone knew it. Someone had to die, if not Irin for defecting then her family because that was the price of her loyalty. If not them then it would have been me. It might even have been my crew as well, all of them.”
Ria stared at him; perhaps it was finally sinking in, how interconnected all this was. Cause and effect, a chain, like the chain of command. “Why? You were the captain.”
“Exactly why. I would be seen as a weak captain; my crew would not fear me and word would have got around. My boss would have heard. Then it would have been my turn.” He paused for a moment. “It still might be, if certain people get their way.”
It had all passed down the chain, I had rescued Irin, we had raced off and Elena had killed the people sent to take care of Irin’s family. And events had unfolded as they did.
“Don’t forget Ria,” I said. “Elana did her bit as well, she killed Rixon’s men, and not in self-defence either. She knew what was at stake and yet she never hesitated.”
Irin had been getting more and more agitated, now she spoke up again. “Ria, I’ve got to know you and I like you. I’m sorry about Elana, I didn’t know her well, yet from trying to kill me she went to give her life for me. However you feel, I feel worse. I don’t particularly like Rixon, I was scared of him for over a year. I can see now that he’s not the man I thought when he was captain of the cruiser. In a way I can accept that he was doing what he had to, like we all were. Now he’s trying to make it right. He promised that he wouldn’t harm anyone else and he’s trying to keep his word.”
“I want to get them back for you,” Rixon smiled. “Dolmen might have kept me out of the way but there are some people who still remember and will be happy to help out. Especially as it’s not an official job. It’s one man going against another. And even if you don’t accept that I should have done it, I did and that’s final. And that’s something that we should all take seriously.”
“Well, I think you’re wrong,” Ria said and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Irin and Melva went to follow her.
“Let her go,” said Griff. “She’ll calm down.” They both stopped.
“No,” said Rixon, “she needs to hear this, or we’ll never move on.”
Griff nodded. “You’re right. I’m done with messing around,” he said. “It’s the past, right or wrong we need to move on. If we spend all our time arguing about who did what, things we can never change, then we’ll never get anywhere. I’ll get her.” He left the room. “Ria,” he shouted as the door shut behind him.
Griff and Ria could be heard shouting, Griff must have won as they both came back in. “Thank you for coming back,” Rixon said to Ria. “Hear me out, I’m trying to make it right.”
She said nothing in reply.
“So, what do we know about Malkin?” I asked, to break the silence.
“Malkin is one of the new generation of criminals, he’s had a few successes, it’s given him confidence and a following. But he’s maybe getting a bit above himself.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, when I came back and told Dolmen what I had done, he wasn’t happy about it. But he accepted it, so did the heads of the three families that run most of the criminal activity from the IW. Malkin isn’t one of them, he’s trying to set up a rival operation. The three tolerate him because he takes some of the heat away from them. He distracts the officials, he’s not quite as low profile as the others, they all keep their noses clean in the IW. He’s not so fussy. I think he’s got very high-level protection. It upsets people like Dolmen that he doesn’t seem to respect convention.”
“They still did what Malkin wanted, grounded you?”
“It was Dolmen’s idea; it was for my own good, if you think about it. He didn’t want me to become a casualty. If Malkin had got to me, then he would have been forced to retaliate and that would have been a problem. We would have had a full-blown war on our hands. The General is just looking for a way to deal with us all. If we operate in the Federation we’re left alone, start a gang war in the IW and it would be very different.”
“Who’s this General, in the scheme of things?” asked Melva.
Griff answered. “She’s the head of the security services, high up in the government. She’s probably the only honest one there. Totally incorruptible. And out of step with the rest of them. We think that she has enough scandal on most of the government to keep her safe, its why she’s still there.”
“Oh, right,” she said, “this criminal life’s a real voyage of discovery.”
“You’ve got yourself a new crew?” I said. I wanted to know a bit more about the Sister. “That ship that brought you to us?”
“The Sister belongs to a friend,” he answered. “They’re not really my crew, just a few people who I trust. In the end, we’re all just trying to make a living. I’m supposed to be where Dolmen can keep an eye on me. But,” he shrugged, “they came and got me.”
“Are they just more criminals then, another one of these family things?”
“They’re not officially anything. They do a bit of disruption on the Federation side, low-level fake news, industrial espionage, whatever anyone’s willing to pay for. It’s semi-official, although you’d never get anyone to admit it. The government likes to disrupt the Federation, there’re a lot of bitter people on the IW side of the line. They think that the Federation got the best planets, which is ridiculous as they all voted. And
there are plenty of new ones being discovered anyway.”
“That’s all very well, but why did Malkin do what he did? Why choose this moment to make his play?”
“Well, after Jintao, the word got around. The woman Elena killed on the ground had some sort of family connection to Malkin. When he found out, he went crazy and wanted to know how all this had happened, I had to give him the full story. I kept your name out of it, he knew about Irin. He said that I’d gone soft and that I needed to be replaced. That was when Dolmen stepped in, he got me away from Malkin’s boys as they were getting ready to take me out. There was a long discussion and Dolmen was allowed to keep me alive, as long as I didn’t have any freedom.”
“Then Malkin decided to finish what you should have?” Ria was persistent.
Rixon wasn’t too happy with that. “If you mean what he thought I should have, yes. He kidnapped Irin’s family and the Villiars manager.”
“And you think that they’re still alive?”
“I don’t know, to be honest, as time goes on I would doubt it, Malkin is as bad as the Chenko’s were, in his own way.”
Irin had gone very quiet. “Then he’s mine,” she said. “If he’s hurt them, he’s mine.”
“Join the queue.” Rixon was furious. “I gave you my word and he’s broken it.”
“How did you get away from Rosskine?” I wanted to change the subject before it all degenerated into more arguments and time-wasting.
“Dolmen didn’t try to stop me. He didn’t know. Do you remember the medivac trick that he pulled to get you to Basilan?”
Of course I did. I had been hidden in a sealed surgery pod, impervious to scans. And I remembered the lad who had piloted the ship, young as me but aged by the constant conflict. “Whatever happened to Eric?”
“He died; stupid turf war.” Rixon looked incredibly sad as he said it. Just for a second, his mask cracked; you could see his humanity. Ria noticed it; her scowl faded.
“Look,” he said, “I have an idea where I can find out some stuff. I’m going.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to find out what’s happening, because I need to find where Malkin has got Irin’s family, and because I need to get everything sorted so that I can meet my mother with a clear conscience.”
“What do you need from us?” asked Griff.
Ria snorted. “Now we get to it, what Rixon needs.”
“Can I borrow a ship, just a small one?”
“What about Freefall?”
“No, it’s too recognisable where I’m going; I need one that’s a bit more inconspicuous, maybe a pleasure cruiser or a small scout.”
“I can get hold of one for you,” Griff said. “I know a man who owes me a favour.”
It sounded just like old times.
“Where are you going?” I asked. “Which side of the line?” I was worried that the General might grab him, despite our deal. I had a feeling he would come in useful when things got serious.
“Best if you don’t know, let’s just say there are still a few good people around.”
“What about your crew, on the Sister?”
“I don’t want to involve them, there will be consequences. I’m calling in favours. I need to go alone. That’s why I sent them away to Kendye. This time, I’m trying to keep everyone safe.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” said Ria.
“Give it a rest, Ria,” Griff snapped back, Ria looked shocked. Maybe he had never spoken to her like that in company. “You keep on about Elana, it’s over, Rixon and everyone did what they thought was right. That’s what happened. We’ve all learned from it, now let’s leave it and start from here.”
She slapped him. “Don’t you ever speak to me like that again,” she said.
“As long as you don’t make me,” he replied.
“See what’s going on,” Rixon sighed. “I’m here and we’re all arguing, I’m leaving as soon as you can find me a ship.”
It was almost as if he had a new purpose, deciding to commit to helping Irin had energised him, just as much as meeting Melva had.
“I’m going out for a beer,” he announced. “I have some calls to make.” Ria was about to make another comment, she thought better of it and merely glared at him as he left. There was nothing else to say, the three of us headed back to Freefall.
On the way, Melva gave me her news.
“I have to go somewhere as well,” she said. This was news to me; did she mean that she had to go back to see Messinya?
“What do you mean, where do you have to go?”
She looked at me in the way that Myra used to. “I wanted to tell you but you just kept on arguing about all this stuff, then another long-lost relative turned up.” She took a deep breath. “Can I borrow Freefall, Dad?”
On a list of what I expected to be asked, that was not at the top, or anywhere near it. I couldn’t let her take the ship; I would need it as soon as I found out where Irin’s family were.
“I need it, why do you?”
She looked at me as if I was crazy. “You can’t have forgotten, it’s for my licence,” she said. “I have to do a ten-day solo trip; with at least one cargo, for my full licence.”
“But you’ve only just got your certification,” I replied. She shook her head and I realised that I hadn’t been keeping up.
“It’s been a month; I’ve done three hundred hours, passed all my exams, look.” She pulled her logbook from the patch pocket of her overalls.
I flipped through the pages, it was a bit of an old-fashioned way of doing things but that wasn’t really the point. Where had the time gone? I had been chasing Rixon and hadn’t noticed.
“I was going to tell you last night. I need to do a solo flight. I’ve done my hours as crew and watchkeeper. This is the last thing I need to do. If I take a recorder with me, I can do a ten-day solo flight with at least one cargo operation, to get my full licence.”
I stood and looked at her, where had all the time gone, how could she be ready for that? She would have to go in Freefall, I knew the ship was sound and wouldn’t trust her to anything else.
We were waiting on news of Malkin but that could take a while, ten days was probably alright. Then I thought a bit more, I could always get another ship from Griff, having her out of the way would be better. If we were off on a rescue it would keep her out of any possible trouble. Not only that, Freefall was known, another ship might give us an advantage.
“I guess you can, what about cargo?”
“Griff can find me one, please let me, I’ll be fine.”
She looked so much like her mother, so eager to prove herself. I understood, and even though I knew that I would wait and worry, I had to let her do it. I could sneak onto Freefall before she went and have a little word with Myra. I could tell her to keep an eye on things for me. In the end, I would have to let her go.
“Tell you what. Let’s sort it out in the morning, there’s a lot to think about.”
We dropped her back at Jimbo’s ship and went to Freefall.
There was something I needed to tell Irin. “Before you say anything, I’m not letting this stop me looking for your family.”
She took me in her arms. “I know, I shouldn’t have said that you weren’t helping, it’s not just me that has problems.”
“I’m fed up with being a part of everyone else’s schemes,” I said. “I don’t mean finding your family, it’s everything else. First it was Malkin, using Rixon’s actions to advance his own plans for a takeover. Then Dolmen did it, making sure that the General got me to help in his dirty work. Now I think that Rixon himself is trying to do the same. It’s about time that I stopped going with the flow and started using people to do what I want.”
“What we want,” she added.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What can I do for you, Melva?” asked Griff next morning.
“Can you find me a cargo for a qualifying trip in Freefall, Griff?”
Griff loo
ked at me, was he expecting my permission? I nodded. “She can use the ship, as long as she doesn’t bend it.”
“Course I can, Melva,” he said. “Where do you want to go?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t care, anywhere will do as long as it’s ten days.”
It took less than a day for Griff to find a ship for Rixon and a cargo for Melva.
Rixon had a ship, a scout slightly smaller than the Freefall and he set off, with few goodbyes. “I’ll be about a week,” he said. “I need to find a few things out and speak to some old contacts.”
While Melva had been sorting her cargo out, I stayed on board Freefall and gave Myra instructions. I told her that she was to override anything she didn’t like and if she spotted any sign of trouble, she was to lock Melva out and get home as quickly as she could. I made sure to tell her that she must never say that I had given her any orders. She accepted it all without comment, when I had finished, she told me not to worry. “I’ll look after her, Dave,” she said, “and mum’s the word.” That nearly set me off.
Melva was supervising the loading of the cargo, some food and electronics for a settlement on the rim. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Can’t you leave me alone? I need to do this all myself.”
“I needed to get some stuff.” I showed her the bags of clothes and gear that Irin had asked me for, my cover for being on board. “I’m going back to see Griff, I’ll see you before you leave.”
I returned to Griff's office. Ria and Irin were out in town somewhere. Rixon had already gone.
“How did you decide which cargo to give her?” I asked Griff. He didn’t really tell me, just hedged around.
“Don’t worry, it’s a simple load, five days out and five back, the minimum for a solo qualifier. Melva gave me a link to the licensing site. I made sure it was qualifying.”
“That’s not what I meant; it’s on the rim and we know there can be trouble there.”
“It’s incorporated and there’s a navy presence, it’ll be fine, Freefall isn’t a pushover and she’s got to do it sometime. She’ll report every other day.”